JLW
CCA Members
Matt,
They can survive drying out for extended periods of time. They can crawl across land. They can handle sewage and bad water conditions, and they can handle chlorine. They can handle cold, even freezing conditions. FYI, I once drained a tank and sprayed it with bleach to get rid of MTS. The MTS and the assassin snails that weren't controlling them fast enough BOTH survived it. It's amazing what a strong operculum will let you survive.
Putting them in the compost pile, all it would take would be a rainstorm, even a day or two later, and they can crawl from there into a storm drain (which is NOT the same as a sewer), and into a local body of water.
Ever seen a Sculpin eat a minnow? It's not about speed. Shrimp and other prey eventually blunder in front of the snail, and the snails nab them. (FYI, I have also seen them actively hunt them... shrimp sits there eating and doesn't notice this snail slowly, slowly, slowly creeping up, until ... BAM!). They do not actively hunt them down. However, they can (and probably would) love to find a collection of relatively immobile insect larvae, or even ambush relatively motile ones. Put them in a healthy stream, and they'll easily devour mayfly larvae, as well as eating the mayfly larvae's food.
As to them not breeding in all tanks... I've never had them not breed, myself, but that just means that most of my tanks are under similar conditions! Once an invasive species finds a niche to exploit, and once they start breeding, it is only a matter of time before placisity takes effect and they're able to breed in other habitats. It can be really, really hard to get a plant started in your garden, under relatively ideal conditions, but that same plant can, once established, become invasive and spread from the "ideal" garden into every single yard, forests, whatever. (Heck, I can't keep Brazilian Elodea alive, and that's an invasive species).
They can survive drying out for extended periods of time. They can crawl across land. They can handle sewage and bad water conditions, and they can handle chlorine. They can handle cold, even freezing conditions. FYI, I once drained a tank and sprayed it with bleach to get rid of MTS. The MTS and the assassin snails that weren't controlling them fast enough BOTH survived it. It's amazing what a strong operculum will let you survive.
Putting them in the compost pile, all it would take would be a rainstorm, even a day or two later, and they can crawl from there into a storm drain (which is NOT the same as a sewer), and into a local body of water.
Ever seen a Sculpin eat a minnow? It's not about speed. Shrimp and other prey eventually blunder in front of the snail, and the snails nab them. (FYI, I have also seen them actively hunt them... shrimp sits there eating and doesn't notice this snail slowly, slowly, slowly creeping up, until ... BAM!). They do not actively hunt them down. However, they can (and probably would) love to find a collection of relatively immobile insect larvae, or even ambush relatively motile ones. Put them in a healthy stream, and they'll easily devour mayfly larvae, as well as eating the mayfly larvae's food.
As to them not breeding in all tanks... I've never had them not breed, myself, but that just means that most of my tanks are under similar conditions! Once an invasive species finds a niche to exploit, and once they start breeding, it is only a matter of time before placisity takes effect and they're able to breed in other habitats. It can be really, really hard to get a plant started in your garden, under relatively ideal conditions, but that same plant can, once established, become invasive and spread from the "ideal" garden into every single yard, forests, whatever. (Heck, I can't keep Brazilian Elodea alive, and that's an invasive species).
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